Problem Statement Read the Instructions Carefully

General Instructions
Avant-garde 8.0 (AG 8.0) comes with a slight twist this year and instead of one case-study, we've two,
representing both our entities Svatantra Microfin Pvt. Ltd. (SMPL) & Svatantra Micro Housing Finance
Corporate Ltd. (SMHFC)

Teams are instructed to attempt any one of the case study

At the evaluation stage, we are looking at equal participation for the case studies and therefore,
teams whose solution will resonate best with Svatantra Team will be shortlisted for the rounds
thereafter.

Case Study 1
Beyond credit 'creating an

impact in rural India'
Leveraging partnerships with start-ups to solve the issues around Health, Education,
Employment, and Finclusion in a cost effective and scalable manner.

Svatantra Microfin Pvt. Ltd. (SMPL) has emerged as one of the most impactful Microfinance entity in
India and since inception impacted more 3 million households across 19 states, 330+ districts in more
than 90,000 villages. Being a rural based microfinance entity, it has created deeper reach and
understanding of the customers and offer unique solutions ‘first-of-its-kind’ in India including
Concierge-led Mediclaim facility, Kutcha House insurance, remote health check-up facilities, and many
more. It's the first NBFC-MFI in the country to adopt cashless disbursement and is proud to state that is
amongst the forerunners in adopting multiple solutions for cashless collections.

SMPL has always leveraged technology to not only scale-up in a profitable manner, but also create impact in
life of customers by ushering in transparency and convenience through unique customer application and
multiple partnerships. Svatantra in line with its value of customer centricity has partnered with many
entities such as insurance companies/ tech start-ups to further the agenda of financial inclusion and
overall customer impact.

While SMPL continues to grow both in terms of its reach (currently has a network of 810+ branches with
6000+ strong team), portfolio and profit, Ms. Birla has called Senior management team to identify and
further the agenda towards leveraging the partnerships with start-ups to solve the issues around Health,
Education, Employment, and Finclusion in a cost-effective and scalable manner in rural India.

The key questions that need to be answered:

1. Which are the relevant and innovative start-ups from the ecosystem?
2. How can SMPL partner with them to create impact?
3. How can these partnership be leveraged to enhance SMPL's Valuation going ahead ?

Problem Statement
Disclaimer: The case study is developed by and is the sole property of Svatantra Group.
This is for academic purposes only and is not intended to be copied or displayed or reproduced at any place outside the campus.
Case Study 2
Leveraging 'reverse migration' trend

Leveraging technology to create enhanced reach and effective credit underwriting in

Tier II/ III / rural India for housing loans
Svatantra Micro Housing Finance Corporation Limited (SMHFC) is one of the most unique NBFC-HFC which
focusses on Economically weaker/ Low-income group customers in the informal segment. SMHFC provides
support to these customers by lending against security towards purchase, construction, or renovation of
the house or to buy a commercial property or for loan against property. SMHFC has the lowest Average
ticket size (INR 7 Lakh) since it is focused on this customer segment in Tier II/ III and rural areas. In fact the
company also provides viability gap funding for many PMAY beneficiary who are unable to put in their
contribution along with subsidy received towards completion of their houses. SMHFC has fulfilled dreams of
more than 40,000 households since inception across 8 states in India.

SMHFC processes are unique as it operates in a branchless model serving the customers at their doorstep in
most convenient manner with the lowest turnaround time, and above all do not require any income
documents. These are some tenets which has made SMHFC a choicest NBFC-HFCs for not only the
customers but also the suppliers of these EWS/LIG houses i.e. Builder and Government. Further, SMHFC
prides itself on having amongst the lowest NPAs in the industry in spite of serving the customers in this
segment due to its unique Credit underwriting process. The company leverages technology system (Loan
acquisition, Loan management, CBS and Loan collection) which has been self-designed to adopt customer its
centric processes.

During the pandemic ‘reverse migration’ has emerged as significant trend in India. The pandemic has made
many urban migrants move to their hometowns to seek and establish occupations. The pandemic along with
the trend of 'reverse migration' has created a need for housing. SMHFC is amongst the most well placed
NBFC-HFC to leverage these trends and cater to these set of customers. Ms. Birla has been keen to
understand this trend and has asked Senior management to identify technology-based solutions to reach
out to this population and serve them through remote but effective credit underwriting. The key questions
to answer include:

1. Is reverse migration a reality and if yes what is the demand in terms of housing : Construction, purchase,
or rentals in their hometowns or in Urban locations ?
2. How can SHMFC create unparalleled reach in this segment through tech solutions?
3. What are available or possible innovative ways to create effective Credit underwriting which can be done
remotely for this segment, keeping branchless model and cost-effectiveness in the mind?

Problem Statement
Disclaimer: The case study is developed by and is the sole property of Svatantra Group.
This is for academic purposes only and is not intended to be copied or displayed or reproduced at any place outside the campus.
Evaluation Criteria
Business Model
a. Business plan focussed on the Objective with clear deliverables / milestones for assessment
b. Innovative, yet simple strategy to implement.
c. Broad financial , Operational and regulatory feasibilityand regulatory feasibility

Objective And Approach

a. Hypothesis development
b. Clarity of approach

Industry Assessment
a. Use of case facts
b. Development of industry view
c. Efforts put in external research
d. Identification of key success factors / challenges

Important Instructions
Teams shall submit a case analysis/solution in a single spaced, 12-point Times New Roman
font, 6-pager document (excluding TOC, Cover page). The cover page must consist of the
team name and team member names.
The first page of the document must comprise of an executive summary of the solution
suggested by the team. The executive summary should be limited to one page only,
however it is advisable you lay emphasis on the unique idea and proposition in the
summary itself.
Wherever necessary, the participants must provide citations and references of the
information and data. Only data provided in the case should be used to design the
product/solution.
The document must be submitted in .pdf format
Please refrain from speaking to any of the employees from SMPL or SMHFC, if reported may
result into disqualification.
Last date for the submission of case solutions is 9th November 2021, 23:59:59 hrs. Teams
must upload their entries on the website used for registration.

For full details please visit http://svatantramicrofin.com/avantgarde

Contact us at campus.connect@svatantra.adityabirla.com

Problem Statement
Disclaimer: The case study is developed by and is the sole property of Svatantra Group.
This is for academic purposes only and is not intended to be copied or displayed or reproduced at any place outside the campus.
Jury Members
Vineet Chattree | Director – Svatantra Microfin Pvt. Ltd. & Managing Director -
Svatantra Micro Housing Finance Corporation Ltd.
Vineet has a rich experience of more than two decades in Operations and Management
Consulting. His strategic thinking and professional experience have enabled Svatantra map
out an accelerated, differentiated, and sustainable growth path. Vineet firmly believes that
an organisation can sustainably grow if it creates a meaningful difference in the lives of its
customers.

Svatantra Microfin Pvt. Ltd.

Anujeet Varadkar | Chief Executive Officer

A graduate in Agriculture Science and post-graduate in Management studies, Anujeet brings
in more than two decades of rich work experience. Before he began his journey in Svatantra
Microfin, he was associated with the Agri-Input Sales, Agriculture Loans, Tractor Loans, and
Channel Finance for Agri-dealers for the well-known corporates such as Axis Bank, ICICI
Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra. In his association with Svatantra Microfin and under his
leadership as the Chief Executive Officer, the company has transcended from 13 employees,
6 branches, and 1 state to what it stands to today. He is a true believer of disruption
through technology for digitizing and optimizing processes and transaction. Anujeet wishes
to create a unique name for Svatantra in the areas of governance, thought leadership and
innovation.

Vrushali Mahajan | Chief Financial Officer

A qualified Chartered Accountant, Vrushali has over 19 years of experience in the banking
sector along with other service industries. Her expertise lies in accounting, taxation,
regulatory compliances and audits, financial planning and analysis, financial reporting and
management reporting. Vrushali worked as the Financial Controller at Ratnakar Bank before
joining Svatantra.
 Svatantra Micro Housing Finance Corporation Ltd.

Jayesh Shah | Chief Operations Officer

Jayesh Shah started his career at HDFC, India's leading housing finance company, as a
management trainee in June 1987. Over his 22 year career with the firm, he worked across
all major departments at HDFC, as well as being on specific local assignments including the
development of an online loan processing system. He has also been on international
assignments to help set up housing finance companies in Sri Lanka and Indonesia. In
addition, he was a regular faculty at the HDFC Training Centre, where his area of
specialization was Credit Risk Management and Loan Process Improvisation. He has worked
on pilot HDFC social development projects on microfinancing, housing and social
infrastructure with agencies like BAIF, KfW, Baroda Citizen's Council and the United Way of
Vadodara and always been passionate about helping the financially excluded own a home. He
joined MHFC in May 2009 as part of the initial team to help extend the existing market
based housing finance model to include customers from weaker sections who lack
documentation, and has been instrumental in establishing SMHFC's overall systems and
processes.

Sahil Mehta| Chief Financial Officer

Sahil in his role as the CFO of SMHFC spearheads Fund Mobilisation and Treasury.In the
overall 12+ years of work tenure, he has more than 8 years of work experience with
Microfinance companies such as Svatantra Microfin, S V Creditline Pvt. Ltd. and
GrameenKoota.Other than his strong domain knowledge about Microfinance Industry, he
was associated with Axis Bank and Trident Group.Sahil holds PG Diploma in Development
Management from Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal. Sahil believes in
the value of commitment to succeed in business.